


Asynchronous Contact

by HiNerdsItsCat (HiLarpItsCat)



Series: Two Can Play At That Game [4]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Identities, Alternate Universe - College/University, Because It's ALWAYS Bittersweet Endings With Me, Bittersweet Ending, Chameleon Arch (Doctor Who), Doctor Who Series 12 Spoilers, Doctor Who Spoilers, Does It Count As Roleplay If It's a Split Personality?, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Feral Bastards Being Soft, Hurt/Comfort, IKEA Furniture, Jenny Smith/Harry Jones - Timeline A, Morning After Drama, Other, References to the TV Movie, Spoilers for Episode: s12e10 The Timeless Children, Texting, Writing Errors In the Master's Text Messages Literally Made Me Wince, implied PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24275761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiLarpItsCat/pseuds/HiNerdsItsCat
Summary: (Timeline A)Even after they both returned to being Time Lords, the Master still keeps in touch with Harry and Jenny's former neighbours. The Doctor is less than pleased to discover that he gave them her phone number as well. Text messages, shopping trips, and bad decisions ensue.
Relationships: The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who), Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Series: Two Can Play At That Game [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1733089
Comments: 27
Kudos: 109





	Asynchronous Contact

**Author's Note:**

> **Setting:** After the events of the story ["Sick Day"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24026146).
> 
> In case it's not clear, the Doctor's texts are on the right, and the Master's texts are in italics on the left.

Have you lost your mind???????

_What, are you conducting a survey?_

What is WRONG with you???

_You’d know the answer to that better than anyone. I bet youve got a list_

You know what I mean! YOU GAVE THEM MY PHONE NUMBER!!!!!!

_Ooo, I’d love to see the expression on your face right now. Send a selfie asap_

Mrs Khamari called while I was in the middle of stopping an Auton invasion! I had to pretend that I was breathing hard because of jogging instead of running for my life

_Lol_

Really? That’s all you can say about that?

_Im literally laughing out loud. Accurate description of my reaction._

What did you tell them?

_Your phone number_

Very funny. What did you tell them about ME????

_About you? Nothing. Unless I’m talking to Jenny right now, in which case Id like to request a very different sort of selfie ;)_

YOU’RE the one who wants them to think that Harry and Jenny are still around. If I don’t know what you told them, then I can’t help you maintain that lie

_Not a lie. They do still exist_

WHAT DID YOU TELL THEM

_We moved to Perth. Youve got a job at the Uni, Im working on another book, we miss them terribly but things are so very busy all the time, we’re trying for kids but nothing yet_

Well that explains why she kept asking me about my diet

_You are surprisingly, what’s the word… “chill” about that part_

Well it’s all made up, isn't it? Anything else?

_No she mostly just enquires after our overall health and then gets me caught up on local gossip. Did you know that Marie’s Bakery changed an item on their menu?_

Yes, she told me

_She actually has to LOOK at the menu now_

Why are you doing this?

_Doing what?_

Pretending like you care about them

_Whos to say that I dont care about them?_

YOU say that! You’ve never liked humans. You make no secret about that

_You do know that Ive spent more time living around humans than you have, right?_

So you’re, what, sentimental?

_Of course not, that would ruin the Murderous Bastard image Ive worked so hard to cultivate_

No really, why do you care what they think?

_They talked to me like I was still Harry. And I think that if they learned that I was some kind of alien, they’d probably just shrug_

I don't even know where to begin to unpack that reasoning

_Its not complicated. They liked me. Him. Me. Whatever_

Oh

_What?_

It’s because you don’t have anyone else to talk to, isn’t it?

_If I wanted to talk to people I would just go talk to them. Unlike you I can actually rely on my charm instead of just abducting people_

I do NOT ABDUCT PEOPLE

_Didnt you steal a girl from an airport once?_

NO I DID NOT

_And I’m positive that pretty surgeon in San Francisco didnt just INVITE you home with her_

STOP CHANGING THE SUBJECT

_She was a great kisser, I remember that bit_

And you were a rotting corpse

_Technically it was Bruce who was the rotting corpse. I was just walking around in it. But youve got a point that I wasnt at my best during all that. The sunglasses looked cool, though_

Which you were wearing at NIGHT

_Bold words from someone who was in a cheap Oscar Wilde costume at the time_

I think it was meant to be Wild Bill Hickok. Though I met him once and he definitely didn’t dress like that

_Of course you met him. Youve met everyone. And worse, you wont stop talking about it_

Says the person who converses in villainous monologues

_See above re: Murderous Bastard image. Whats your excuse?_

I’ve just lived a much more exciting life than you have

:D

* * *

I just had the most harrowing ten hours of my life

_Daleks, Cybermen, or another one of my regenerations?_

I saw the Khamaris when I was in Sheffield. They were there for a concert and I ran into them and they SAW ME and I had to talk to them and somehow get away before the fam came back

_LOL_

I claimed that I had a flight to catch

So they DROVE ME TO THE AIRPORT

IN MANCHESTER

(I think they missed their concert)

So then I had to find a way back FROM MANCHESTER

And THE MOMENT that I step off the train in Sheffield I run into them AGAIN and so I made up an excuse that I forgot my luggage and then had to steal someone’s suitcase at the train station and then they drove me BACK TO MANCHESTER and I just sort of sat at the airport for the next four hours until I could work up the nerve to go back to Sheffield

_Its official: you finally managed to kill me. I have both literally and figuratively died while reading this_

_Of laughter_

_This is my ghost texting you now_

_Congratulations_

I told them that I thought you were having an affair by the way

_YOU DID WHAT_

Have fun with that! :)

_THEYRE GOING TO KILL ME_

_YOU MONSTER_

_YOURE GOING TO REGRET THIS_

_Hang on_

_Your little pets dont know about Jenny, do they? You never told them?_

You are not going ANYWHERE near them

_I wasnt going to. But why havent you told them?_

Because its none of their business. And none of YOUR business for that matter

_Have they really not noticed that something happened? That you lived a whole year in between the thing with the Cybermen and when you went to fetch them? Theyre dull humans but theyve got to suspect something_

I don’t tell them everything

_What did you tell them happened to me? Because that Ryan fellow was there at the boundary and saw me_

Still none of your business

_Its not like youre subtle, Doctor. The truth is going to come out eventually and when it does its going to look very bad. What do you think theyll do if they find out that you ran off with ME for a year?_

_OH NO MY PHONE IS RINGING_

_ITS THE KHAMARIS_

Tell them I said hi! :D

_I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW_

* * *

_Did a Thing today_

Was it murder?

_Almost. Went to an ikea. Did you know that it’s impossible to land a TARDIS there? The whole store’s dimensionally transcendental_

No it’s not

_How would you know?_

What did you do?

_Parked outside obviously_

I mean what were you doing there?

_Sent an image: sofa.jpg_

WHAT

_Yup_

WHAAAAT???????

_YUUUUP_

You bought a sofa

_Oh good, you know what a sofa looks like. I was worried_

It’s hideous

_Bit rich coming from you. I’m 99.99999999% sure that you have a vest in that exact pattern_

Why did you get a sofa

_Because I didnt have one obviously_

I know this is cocky of me to ask but did you get this because I wouldn’t stop bringing it up?

_That is VERY cocky of you_

Answer the question

_It seats two_

So that’s a yes, then

_Its very cozy. I even bought pillows_

Are you inviting me over to see your ugly IKEA sofa?

;)

Knowing you, you probably booby trapped it

_More like booty trapped it_

DID YOU JUST

;D

* * *

Are you there?

_Yes I exist, thx for checking_

I mean have you got time for a chat?

_Im answering, arent I?_

Something happened

_What happened?_

I took the fam to Rhyd IV. Thought I remembered that there was a really good observatory there but that was Rydex IV

_And the Monster of the Week was…?_

There were cybermen there

_I didnt put them there, if thats what you’re wondering_

I hadnt seen any since Gallifrey and I just… froze. I couldnt move, couldnt speak, couldnt think. so the others started running but because i wasnt thinking properly i didnt warn them thaat they were going in the wrong direction andthen they got hurt badly and it was all my fault

_I assume that you all got away, otherwise you wouldnt be texting me_

theyre all alive but theyre still in hospital. i should have taken them somewhre in the future but i couldnt think of any medical facilities that werent filledwith killer viruses or cat nuns so i took them back to sheffield

_Are you there now?_

no i dropped them off and ran. i didnt want to see the looks on their faceswhen they woke up and realised that i was the one responsible

_All of your pets practically worship the ground you walk on. Theyll get over it_

Ive never frozen up like that. Never. Thats not how I react when im in danger I dont freeze, i ACT

_Well at least they survived. Some of your previous ones didnt_

Theyre alive but they could have gotten killed and it would have been my fault

_So youre not perfect. Welcome to being a person_

I never said that i was perfect

_You get mad at yourself when you dont do everything exactly right. Well, heres the thing that you keep forgetting, Doctor: NOBODY is perfect and you need to stop throwing a tantrum everytime someone screws up, especially when that Someone is You_

You have no idea what youre talking about

_Dont I? Then why are you so unhappy all the time?_

I’m not unhappy!

_Of COURSE you are_

Oh really? Well, are YOU happy?

_No, but I never deluded myself into thinking that there was a magical solution to that problem_

yes you did YOU ABSOLUTELY DID because thats why you want us to go back to being jenny and harry again, because you think THATS going to solve all your problems and it WONT

_Nice deflection_

You know I’m right

_So what if you are? At least I know that the problem is ME whereas you still think that the problem is EVERYTHING_

Why did i even think that you would understand why i’m upset

_Good question. What do you want me to say? Or do? Because you obviously wanted SOMETHING from me_

I don’t know

_Then maybe you should figure that out before you text me again_

* * *

_Hello? Havent heard from you in awhile_

_Look, I might have been a little hasty last time when I told you not to text me_

_Bc you still can if you want_

_Text me, I mean_

_Not saying that I’ll do anything useful of course_

_But Ive still got the phone on me, is what I mean_

_So if you needed to talk to someone_

_Not that you have to_

_But you could_

_Ok that was a lot of texts I just sent_

_Hopefully youre not hiding from a Dalek and the notification gave you away or something_

_Lol_

_Or should it be lrq?_

_(Laughing Really Quietly)_

_Right ok just going to wait for you to reply_

_Maybe I’ll go conquer a planet to kill some time. Or conquer some time to kill a planet. ;)_

I’m here

_New phone whos this?_

_Jk_

Is Harry around?

_Why?_

I don’t want to be alone right now

_Are you all right?_

Is he there?

_He could be. Should I have him call?_

No need. I’m standing on the porch of your TARDIS right now

_Oh_

So let me in

_Say please_

Only face to face

_Deal_

Will you put the phone down and just open the door???

_Ok Ok hang on Im on my way_

* * *

All right, one of us has to say it and since you haven’t texted me in three days I guess it’ll have to be me

That was a mistake. We shouldn’t have done that

_Might I remind you that YOU were the one who turned up at my TARDIS desperate for company?_

Yes I know I KNOW, but that doesn’t change the basic fact that we shouldn’t have done that and it shouldn’t happen again

_Except that it probably WILL happen again. You’ll get lonely or sad and you’ll show up asking me to let you in and then we’ll end up on the damn sofa again, which by the way was far too small for what we were doing on it_

Why are you so sure that I’LL be the one to ask?

_Because I’m used to being by myself and you’re not. So we’re on your schedule not mine_

And that doesn’t strike you as a bit unhealthy?

_Of course its unhealthy. WE’RE unhealthy. But I’ll take what I can get at this point_

I’m surprised that you didn’t bring up the Arch while I was there, incidentally

_I dont know if you recall, but we were a bit busy at the time_

I meant afterwards. You didn’t mention it at all. Why?

_You don’t want to know why_

Yes, I do

_It’ll just make you angry_

No it won’t

_I always make you angry_

Tell me anyway. Why didn’t you mention it?

_Fine: its because I’m starting to wonder if we even need it_

We’re good at pretending to be Jenny and Harry, but we’re not THAT good

_Not them. Us. We might be able to make it work_

As what, a couple?

_Why not?_

Because it’s impossible???

_WHY is it impossible?_

For starters, we’d murder each other

_Thats what makes it fun_

This isn't a joke

_Im not joking_

There’s far too much history between us. Too many reasons why we stopped being friends. Those won’t go away overnight

_Such as?_

You can’t let go of the whole Timeless Child thing and you’ll always resent me for it

_I’m not saying it would be EASY, but its still not impossible_

I can’t be with someone who destroyed our home

_But apparently youre fine with the idea of sleeping with him_

I missed Harry. That’s all it was

_Sure keep telling yourself that_

What are you talking about?

_You missed ME_

I think I know more than you do about what’s going on in my own head

_Except that you dont, because I noticed something that you didnt_

_Go on, guess what it is_

Just cut straight to the bragging, I know you love that part

_When you were here you never called me Harry… but you did call me Master_

No I didn’t

_Yes you did. Several times._

_And you never corrected me when I called you Doctor_

_So its a little late to pretend that this was just us playing make-believe_

Even if that’s true, so what? That doesn’t change anything

_Does it change that promise you made? That if youre ever ready to be done with being the Doctor youd come find me and wed go back to being Jenny and Harry?_

_Come on, answer the question_

_JUST ANSWER IT_

_Please_

_Please say something. Say anything_

_Doctor_

_Please_

* * *

_“If you’re hearing this, you know who you’re calling. If that somehow hasn’t deterred you, leave a message.”_

“Hi. This message… well, this message is for Harry. From Jenny. This is Jenny calling, I mean. Because the Doctor doesn’t really know what to say right now, so I guess it’s up to me to do something about it.

“I miss you. I don’t know how it’s possible to feel so good and so awful at the same time, but that’s what it’s like every time I think about you. I should probably be angry at the Doctor for making me do the hard part, but the fact that I get to talk to you, even if it’s just leaving a voicemail, is such a relief that I almost can’t bear it.

“You know what it’s like? It’s like when I left St Luke’s to take the fellowship in Leeds and we didn’t talk to one another for weeks. Because even though a tiny part of me tried to convince the rest of me that this was a good thing, that we couldn’t and shouldn’t be near one another… well, you know how that turned out: I was miserable. And the relief I felt when I went to the Doctor’s office before that mess with the lab and found you there instead… I suppose that’s when I knew that I wouldn’t be happy until we were together again. That’s what I’m feeling now, but at least this time I’m not in denial about it.

“Because we _are_ going to be together again, I promise. And you can tell the grumpy bastard whose head you’re living in that the Doctor hasn’t changed her promise either. One day, we’ll be back in each other’s arms, somewhere—maybe in Leeds, or Bristol, or somewhere else… or maybe we’ll travel around the world or even through space and time—we’ve each got access to a TARDIS, after all—and we could spend the rest of our lives trying to see every star in the universe.

“But wherever we end up, we’ll be together. 

“I promise.

“I’ve got to go now—Yaz and Ryan are probably almost done changing their clothes, because the Doctor’s taking them to a sort of intergalactic food truck festival and then they’re stopping off in Sheffield to bring Graham some of the best bits, since he’s still recovering from that broken hip.

“I miss you. I love you. And I can’t wait to see you again.”

* * *

“—right, it needs a greeting. Did it already beep? Oh, I think it did. Hi! Leave a message! I can’t guarantee that I’ll listen to it so you should probably send me a text but maybe you prefer to just speak. Sometimes people think better when they talk out loud. I know I do. I talk out loud to myself all the time. Though I don’t leave voicemails for myself, obviously. Should I start doing that? Don’t answer that—obviously I’m a recording and can’t hear you. Oh! But you’re about to leave a message, so you could answer and then I’ll hear you when I listen to your voicemail. Assuming that I check my messages. I’ll probably check my messages. I’ll try. But maybe also send me a text to remind me. How long have I been talking for? I think there might be a time limit so—”

_“Jenny, it’s Harry. I… it’s funny, I get to talk to you and now I can’t think of anything to say other than to tell you that I love you, over and over again like it’s some kind of chant._

_“I love you. I love you. I love you._

_“He’ll probably be mortified that I’m being so sappy._

_“Or maybe he won’t. He’s a bit unpredictable like that. Regardless, I’m going to keep embarrassing him._

_“Here’s something he would never admit out loud: he never puts his phone down. It’s always on him and he checks it constantly. The only reason why he didn’t pick up the phone when you called was because… well, it involved a lot of burning plastic and rubber, and a few very cross Judoon with big guns, which were all a bit loud so he didn’t hear the phone ringing. And the utter relief he felt when he saw that it was a missed call from you… it was like he was feeling every possible emotion all at once. _

_“That thing you said, about us going to see every star together one day? That was their promise and the reminder of it is driving him mad. And he can’t ignore it even though he wants to. I’ve made sure of that. _

_“But he’s still trying so hard not to care._

_“I remember being like that, back during that awful period you mentioned when you were in Leeds and I was still in Bristol. I tried to convince myself that everything was fine, that the presence or absence of just one person wasn’t enough to upend my entire life, but it was. I felt like I was dying a little bit every day._

_“To have so much of your happiness resting in the hands of another person… it’s terrifying, isn’t it? The ability to destroy whole worlds is insignificant next to the power to destroy a single person._

_“But I guess that’s one silver lining to our current circumstances. I don’t feel like I’m dying._

_“Because one day we’re going to win. You and me, against the two of them. We’re going to win and then we’ll be back together again. As travellers, as partners, as normal extraordinary humans with a normal extraordinary life, as the only lovers left alive…_

_“Or even… or even as little voices inside the minds of two extremely screwed-up aliens who did the hard work themselves and figured out a way to be together even though it’s probably impossible. Because we were impossible too, weren’t we? But we still happened. We still exist. So maybe they can happen too._

_“I would be all right with that outcome. Would you?_

_“All right, I’ve got to go—there are some Cybermen on Rhyd IV who are about to be on the receiving end of some very satisfying payback. He might actually send pictures. I might even let him._

_“I love you, Jenny Smith. For as close to forever as we can get._

_“I promise.”_


End file.
